Our phones have become an essential possession in our daily lives and we use them for everything from sending a message to online banking and checking the weather.

Imagine waking up one day to find out that your entire life has been compromised due to someone hacking your phone and taking over your life? Or being framed for something you didn’t do.

How prevent your phone from being hacked

Password

Set a password – This might seem like a no-brainer but many people still do not have passwords on their phones.

Considering that your banking information, ID and other secure information is stored on your phone, it’s imperative that you set up this most basic of security measures.

It’s also important to ensure that your password isn’t the same as what you’ve used on other devices.

Don’t share your password – No, do not let your friend log in to your personal accounts. While you know you can trust your friends, you never know where they store your passwords which could be privvy to pryng eyes.

It’s easy to protect yourself, but it’s not easy to ensure that someone else using your password information keeps it safe. It’s also important to not store your passwords in your phone (whether it be via the browser or not).

Most phones include a fingerprint scanner on their devices, ensure that you set yours up as an additional security measure.

Install an anti-virus app – Both Google and Apple offer security updates for devices running on their mobile operating systems, but they don’t always roll out prior to a virus affecting your device and tend to be more of a preventative measure.

Google Play and the Apple App Store both have many anti-virus apps which you can install on your phone.

Always ensure you install an app with a high user rating to ensure you are getting one that actually works.

Don’t click on unknown links – Your information can be compromised by something as simple as a text message. All a hacker needs is your phone number which they can then use to send you a text message with a malicious link in it. Clicking that link can allow the message to install code onto your handset which gives a hacker access to all your information.